something for lovers of our language

[pineapple stu]

There is a lot of truth in the above assertion. I was not one of those kids, with the result that I still love the language and despite not beginning to learn the language formally till the age of 9, we lived overseas for 6 years before that, I got honours Irish in the Leaving Certificate.

I meant back in the 17th/18th century - I wasn't alleging you to be that old!

On an aside - though it kind of ties in with this thread - I was heading down to Kilkenny to play a chess tournament at the weekend and the bus passed by a couple of signs for Newbridge. The signs had "Droichead Nua" obviously, but the "Newbridge" had been covered up with black masking tape. I've also often seen Newbridge referred to as just "Droichead Nua" on maps. What's the story with that? Is the town ditching its English name (which I think is a great idea, and I reckon it should be extended to the counties, but that's yet another thread...) or is there another explanation?

[CollegeTillIDie]

I meant back in the 17th/18th century - I wasn't alleging you to be that old!

On an aside - though it kind of ties in with this thread - I was heading down to Kilkenny to play a chess tournament at the weekend and the bus passed by a couple of signs for Newbridge. The signs had "Droichead Nua" obviously, but the "Newbridge" had been covered up with black masking tape. I've also often seen Newbridge referred to as just "Droichead Nua" on maps. What's the story with that? Is the town ditching its English name (which I think is a great idea, and I reckon it should be extended to the counties, but that's yet another thread...) or is there another explanation?

Ceannanus Mór instead of Kells is a similar phenomenon.

[CollegeTillIDie]

I meant back in the 17th/18th century - I wasn't alleging you to be that old!

pineapple stu... I think you will find 2 million people dying between 1845 and 1847 and 1 million emigrating probably was a greater cause as the majority of those were from the West of Ireland which was primarily a Gaeltacht in the 1840's.

[pineapple stu]

pineapple stu... I think you will find 2 million people dying between 1845 and 1847 and 1 million emigrating probably was a greater cause as the majority of those were from the West of Ireland which was primarily a Gaeltacht in the 1840's.

Yeah, but I think (think, mind! I'm open to correction) a lot of schools back then were taken over by the English, who used to beat kids for talking in Irish...heard that in school, I'm almost sure. Back in the 1840s, about half the population still spoke Irish, but you're right, the famine did a lot to damage the language as well. Don't know how the two aren't mutually exclusive - maybe it's just the Irish way of being subjugated by foreigners who don't care for our way of doing things and then just ignoring them...bit like the metric system now...!

[$Leon$]

Ceannanus Mór instead of Kells is a similar phenomenon.

i think (open to cooection) that kells has only become officialy become kells in the last few years (5-10) and that up until that it was ceannanus mor. navan aslo appears on alot of maps as an uaimh. not sure is there a similar reason.
personally i'd be all in favour of renaming every place with its irish name

[TheJamaicanP.M.]

i think (open to cooection) that kells has only become officialy become kells in the last few years (5-10) and that up until that it was ceannanus mor. navan aslo appears on alot of maps as an uaimh. not sure is there a similar reason.
personally i'd be all in favour of renaming every place with its irish name

If we were to rename every place with its Irish name, I think you would be in serious need of Irish grinds from your old mentor Jimmo. It would be a chance for you to rekindle your old flame with the shoenator.

[$Leon$]

If we were to rename every place with its Irish name, I think you would be in serious need of Irish grinds from your old mentor Jimmo. It would be a chance for you to rekindle your old flame with the shoenator.

well if that would be required keep all the english names and call the hun$ back

[Aberdonian Stu]

Well I'm a fluent Irish speaker from Dunlaoghaire and I have to say I'm wary of renaming places by their Irish name. The Irish name Dún Laoghaire has been hijacked by certain sections to try and make the place more "presentable" something that I find personally offensive and it is effectively there to hide the facr that it's been neglected. The pronounciation as Gaeilge makes it sound posher and RTE are just one of the culprits. Incidentally this also ignores that Dún Laoire is now the accepted spelling in Modern Iris, which is probably because that spelling hasn't enough airs and graces about it. Bizarre but true.

[green goblin]

You may take my music, my dance and my language, but you'll never take my EU friendly standardised Passport...

As 2g Irish, I loved my old Irish passport. It meant more than I can say to have something official with your name and photgraph on it that was green with harps on rather than blue with crowns on . .

[crc]

I think Irish and the eL share some of the same problems. Let me explain:

I'm a bit of a language enthusiast - I speak good French, some Italian and Dutch, and a few words in German, Spanish, Catalan, and I'm even trying to learn Japanese at the moment. However, even though I learned Irish at school (in the north, and got an A at GCSE) I have a lot of difficulty witht he language now.

The reason for learning (bits) of all those languages has generally been because I have been immersed in their environments - this makes it so much easier to pick up the language, because what you already know is constantly being reinforced. This is not the case with Irish, English is everywhere you look. This is why the official languages act is a good thing, we will begin to see Irish all around us in our everyday lives.

In Quebec, they passed a language law requiring that English not have greater prominence than French on all signs in public. This has the effect that French is constantly in public view. Such measures can be criticised as draconian, but I am in favour of them because they are a very effective way to reinvigorate a language.

To make the link to the eL is easy. All the general public see in Ireland (football related) has to do with the English Premiership - it is in our papers, on our TV, on the internet. This abundance of positive reinforcement does not exist for either the eL or the Irish language.

[CollegeTillIDie]

I think Irish and the eL share some of the same problems. Let me explain:

I'm a bit of a language enthusiast - I speak good French, some Italian and Dutch, and a few words in German, Spanish, Catalan, and I'm even trying to learn Japanese at the moment. However, even though I learned Irish at school (in the north, and got an A at GCSE) I have a lot of difficulty witht he language now.

The reason for learning (bits) of all those languages has generally been because I have been immersed in their environments - this makes it so much easier to pick up the language, because what you already know is constantly being reinforced. This is not the case with Irish, English is everywhere you look. This is why the official languages act is a good thing, we will begin to see Irish all around us in our everyday lives.

In Quebec, they passed a language law requiring that English not have greater prominence than French on all signs in public. This has the effect that French is constantly in public view. Such measures can be criticised as draconian, but I am in favour of them because they are a very effective way to reinvigorate a language.

To make the link to the eL is easy. All the general public see in Ireland (football related) has to do with the English Premiership - it is in our papers, on our TV, on the internet. This abundance of positive reinforcement does not exist for either the eL or the Irish language.

That's because the media when it comes to sport are a shower of West Brits